Multiple methods exist for inter-process communication (IPC). Different operating systems (OS) support one or more different IPC mechanisms. Specific IPC mechanisms supported by the WINDOWS OS available from Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash. are clipboard, object linking and embedding (OLE)/component object model (COM), data copy, DDE, file mapping, mail slots, pipes, remote procedure call (RPC), and WINDOWS sockets.
Clipboard, OLE/COM, DDE, mail slots, RPC, and WINDOWS sockets require a greater amount of overhead than the other mechanisms, i.e., additional resources such as communication bandwidth, setup time, communication time, etc.
Data copy, file mapping, and pipes are not useable for synchronous communication. That is, by using one of these mechanisms, communicating processes must use a synchronization object, such as a semaphore, in order to prevent data corruption in a multitasking environment.